The Silent Place

Suggested Listening: Animal by Ke$ha, Hypnotic Dancefloor by BoA (if you listen to the lyrics I suppose this would have fit well for the last chapter... but it wasn't on my playlist then..)

Chapter Seven: Succession

Mello slowly blinked his eyes and gradually became aware of his surroundings. He lay comfortably in the hotel rooms bed feeling more rested than he had in a long time. His body ached pleasantly with the memory of night befores events.

Though that was more than enough to have him tense as he became aware of the body he lay half draped on and the arms that were around him. Matt's breathing was steady but not that of someone asleep.

He lifted his head and was met with a stare of de-goggled green eyes.

He honestly couldn't bring himself to regret anything, despite the heat that rose to his cheeks, and the urge to pull away from the contact. No more than a few seconds later Matt's arms loosened and slid away from him.

"Go on, I know you're uncomfortable. Thank you for letting me comfort you." his eyes fluttered slightly as Matt's fingers brushed a strand of hair behind his ear.

"Take a shower, I'll clean up around here a bit and take one before we leave." Matt suggested, giving him an out, a way to leave the contact. And to his shame, he took it despite his conflicting feelings; one tugging him away and the other screaming at him to stay there, safe, in Matt's arms.

He crawled from the bed, the sheet being tugged along with him, and padded softly to the small bathroom. The bright, almost orange, glow of light came on with a flicker as he flipped the switch and stepped inside.

He hesitated, having the door mostly closed, before he rested his head on the trim, eyes closed. He bit his lips and pulled the sheet tighter around him. "Join me?" he called out softly. And for a moment he almost believed that Matt hadn't heard until the soft rustle of blankets alerted him to Matt getting up.

"You sure?"

Mello opened his eyes and nodded at the redhead. "I wouldn't have asked otherwise." though the racing of his heart said differently. "Alright." he shivered as the sheet was gently tugged from his grasp and tossed outside of the bathroom as the door was shut.

He let Matt set the temperature as they had different tastes when it came to that, but as long as it wasn't cold he would be able to handle it.

He stepped inside after Matt, and though it was a slightly tight fit, they managed.

When they were both clean, dried off, and dressed, they began to pack up the room and the small amount of clutter that had accumulated in it since they'd arrived. "We were actually supposed to have been out of here an hour ago." Matt commented as he brought the suitcases out to the car.

Mello wondered how long they would have to do this, as he watched Matt check over the car for tampering. Run from hotel to hotel until they could find Anderson and whomever else connected to the case. Because to Mello it was a case. A case more important than anything.

"We're good to go." Matt muttered as he slid into the drivers seat. Mello added his duffle bag to the backseat and slammed the door as he got in. And though Matt had cleared it he still held his breath as the engine was started.

He had seen far too many people get taken out by car bombs in his day, granted none of them had either of their intellects....

"To another hotel now, or...?" Matt trailed off as he pulled from the parking lot and onto the main road. Mello honestly wasn't sure. There was a chance, that if they booked a hotel stay right then, that they could be tracked down and found before nightfall. However, the same could be said for driving around all day.

Matt's stomach let out a loud growl and Mello couldn't help the grin that tugged at his lips. "I guess we can decide after we eat. It's probably better that we're in a crowded place at the moment... what about one of those internet cafes?"

Matt hummed his agreement. "That could work, we could get something to eat and see about getting some information. Everyone leaves a trail, right? So there has to be something to connect your man Anderson to this area."

They found a cafe not too long after, as Mello had known the general area it was in from the last time he'd been there. They only stepped from the car once Mello had his hood up and the dark sunglasses over his eyes.

They would garner some unwanted stares from their attire, Mello's covered face and Matt's stripes and goggles, but it would be worse if they let their faces be seen. "Set up my laptop here and I'll get us something edible."

Mello shrugged but didn't mind as he would have had a small bit of difficulty handling more than one thing on the way back. "Get me a coffee!" he called to the retreating redhead. Matt rose a hand to signal that he'd heard and Mello sat at one of the tables, closer to the back of the cafe, and booted up the laptop.

A few minutes later Matt arrived and set down two coffees, one black and the other with cream and sugar. He also placed some sort of wrapped sandwich like thing in front of each of them, and off to the side a pair of chocolate chip muffins.

"Eat the other thing first." Matt commented with amusement. Mello sighed and produced a chocolate bar from his coat and lifted the lid of the coffee to add it inside. While he let the coffee dissolve the confection he unwrapped the sandwich, which turned out to be egg and cheese, and ate it.

Matt had half of his sticking out of his mouth as he brought up a few programs on his computer, though Mello had never seen them before. "Mello... I want to ask L to help us. I know this has to deal with... your past. But I really think we could use the extra help should he be willing." Matt's gaze was firmly directed at the laptop screen and his voice was nothing more than a hushed whisper.

Mello closed his eyes but withheld a sigh. "Alright." he said softly. Matt looked at him with a frown of confusion.

"That's it? You're not going to argue?"

Mello took a sip of his coffee and used the stirrer Matt had brought to swirl the chocolate around. "Would you prefer me to argue?" he took another experimental sip and found it to be infinitely better. He should have known to mix it first.

"No... but I know you've gone out of your way to make sure we weren't in contact with him after..." Matt trailed off and despite the fact he really no longer wanted to eat, Mello took a bite of the sandwich.

"I'm not an idiot, most of the time, so I do realize how important it is to finish this quickly. If you want to bring L into this, then bring L into this." he glanced around to make sure no one was listening despite how low his voice had gone when stating the detectives name.

"I decided last night before bed that if you wanted his help, I wouldn't complain." he added as an afterthought.

Matt smiled and leaned over to kiss him. Mello had thought about pulling away but in the end simply allowed it. If he ignored the urges to pull away, that always seemed to lurk beneath the surface, he could almost imagine that it was like everything was normal between them again.

"I'll e-mail him now." Matt told him as his fingers raced across the keys.

"Why not give him your number. We're both going to have to get new phones after this anyway." Matt nodded to him though his eyes never turned his way. Mello found that he didn't really mind.

He took another small bite of the sandwich before he began to pick at it, and as it became apparent that he wasn't going to eat more than half of it he pushed it to the side and took hold of one of the chocolate chip muffins.

Matt snorted, and he could only assume that it had to do with him and the muffin.

Not even five minutes later Matt's cell phone rang and Mello had no delusions as to whom it was. He quickly retrieved it from his pocket and handed it over to Matt. He had no desire to speak with L, or even worse, Near.

"Hello?" Matt answered in his bored 'I'm playing a game what do you want' tone of voice. Mello could feel his appetite dwindle but forced himself to eat the remainder of the muffin as it wasn't certain whether or not they would be able to stop to eat once they got started.

And while Mello didn't like the fact, he would have to play by Matt's rules for this. He couldn't go out on his own, gun or not, and Matt's expertise was in computers. So if there was any information to be had he would probably find it that way.

Though there would probably be a lead that couldn't be followed using the computer, and then they would have to go together. Mello allowed a tiny smile at the thought, though he wasn't sure he would have it any other way at the moment.

Matt glanced at him for a second. "No, he's not with me at the moment."

He bit his lip and knew that even if L requested to speak to him, he wouldn't. Matt sighed and Mello could tell his irritation levels were rising. He hesitated but at the twitch of Matt's lip, slipped his hand into the redheads free one; it successfully startled him enough to distract him from whatever L had been doing to piss him off.

Matt smiled widely at him and he gave a lopsided one back. Matt was always the one to sacrifice things for them, so if a little discomfort on his part made Matt happy who was Mello to complain?

"If you're basing your help on whether or not you get to speak to him then I guess we are through-" Matt had gone still and his posture had slouched even further, his face becoming half hidden by the neck of the furred vest.

Mello removed his hand from Matt's and snatched the phone from him. "What the fuck do you want?" he hissed quietly so as to not draw too much more attention to them.

"Mello, I am glad that you have decided to join the conversation." he vaguely hear Near mutter something in the background like 'Mello has finally stopped running from his problems then?' followed by something he didn't quite catch. Though he knew it was something nasty aimed at himself.

He must have let his inner fury slip into his expression as Matt squeezed his thigh and made an attempt to take the phone back, though he didn't let him. Mello mouthed 'thank you' to the redhead but shook his head and didn't release the phone.

"What do you want?" he stressed again. "I would like for you to reconsider your removement from my succession."

Mello's eyes widened. L still wanted him to be....?

His eyes flickered over to Matt. His hand tightened on the phone and he closed his eyes. "My answer is still no." he didn't want to see Matt's expression as he would have figured it out by now just what L wanted from him.

"Is it because you don't want it, or feel that you don't deserve it?" Mello sucked in a breath and his left arm twitched slightly.

"In the end, it doesn't really matter does it?" he heard the soft sigh at the other end. "I refuse. I am... happier without it." the succession to L had once meant so much to him, and when Matt had disappeared it had taken a backseat in he search to find the redhead.

And even once he'd found Matt again, it hadn't really mattered all that much to him anymore. And now, an even further amount of time later, he supposed it shouldn't come as a surprise that he didn't miss it.

It had hurt to take himself out of the running, but Mello had a feeling it had more to do with his injury and subsequent disability and the thought of rejection more than loosing the actual succession.

"That is unfortunate. Be that as it may, as you are no longer a successor, I would be under no obligation to help you-"

Mello tuned out the rest of what L was saying. L was a good friend so long as things went his way, went according to his thinking. Which was why Near was a good choice as he was a sheep, a drone, a follower. A perfect little clone of L.

But Mello wouldn't fault L in his thoughts. He just wouldn't play his game. "Goodbye L." he ended the call despite the warning call of 'Mello-' on the other end. He even went so far as to turn the phone off and set it on the table away from him.

It looked as though he and Matt were on their own. But they always managed to make it before... so perhaps they didn't need anyone else.

"Mello?" Matt questioned softly. He turned his gaze to Matt and smiled a little. "Shall we get to work, we have a lot to do on our own."

Matt smiled sadly and glanced back to the laptop. "I suppose the obvious would be start hacking the traffic cameras and see if any of the same vehicles were around Takahashi and Jasper's more than once in the day leading up to... and then I'll check if any police reports were filed for-"

Matt had already trailed off as he began to type. Mello knew it was a long shot that they would find Anderson before the man made his next move. He just hoped that whatever the man had planned, they could survive it.

Mello contented himself with watching the people of the cafe while Matt dug around the internet; that was Matt's domain and if anyone could find what they needed and not leave a trail in doing so, it would be him.

He just hoped there would be something to find.

A little girl and, what Mello assumed was her mother, sat down not too far from them and the little brown haired girl had taken to staring at him, or it could have been both of them. He half smiled at her in hopes that she would be placated and turn away but it only made her giggle and wave at him.

Which in turn made the mother take notice. She frowned disapprovingly at her daughter and smiled slightly apologetically at him though Mello could see she was weary of him. He didn't blame her. He was the one with most of his face hidden by his hood as well as the dark sunglasses.

He took to looking out the windows and made note of anyone who passed more than once, though for the most part there was no one suspicious so he doubted that anyone knew where they were for the moment.

"I found the vehicle." Matt told him a while later. He pulled his gaze from the window and directed it at the redhead who had leaned back in his chair. "There's a problem though, I found it but so did the cops. It was abandoned on the roadside and found late last night."

Mello swore under his breath.

"It's registration was fake and it leads nowhere, they are investigating but I doubt that they will find anything." Matt sighed and took a sip of his long gone cold coffee. They had found something, just not the something they'd been hoping for.

"As for police reports concerning possible witnesses for Takahashi and Jasper... nothing." Matt drummed his fingers on the edge of the table and the bottom half of his mouth disappeared below the vests collar.

Mello hadn't really expected anything to have been reported as people tended to value their own lives far more than they valued the right thing. He knew that all too well.

"Um... Sirs?" a mousey waitress in thick rimmed glasses walked up to them. Mello turned his head in her direction and for a moment thought she might faint.

"The manager would like you to leave if you are not going to buy anything else as other customers would like to use the table..." she trailed off and appeared to have lost her nerve. Mello wondered, if she was this timid, why had she been sent to deal with them?

Especially when they seemed the type that might cause problems.

He glanced at Matt and nodded. "That's fine, we were just about to leave anyway." the mousey waitress let out a huge sigh of relief and nodded before slinking off to the other side of the cafe, presumably where it was 'safe'.

He took a glance at the time on the laptop before Matt closed the lid and it was no real surprise they had been asked to leave as it was already very near two o'clock. Though despite the late hour, Mello wasn't hungry.

He followed Matt out of the cafe and they took the long way in getting back to the car, as it probably wouldn't have been a good idea to go straight there. They had no way of knowing if it were just Anderson, though by the state of Takahashi's place it was unlikely, or how many people he had with him.

And until they had a better idea of just what was going on, other than the possible revenge, they had to play it more than safe. Though really, just how safe were they anywhere at he moment?

There was no way to tell and that was what had Mello scanning every face in the crowd no matter where they passed. Paranoia was a learned reaction, and even if it appeared that Matt was taking it easy, Mello had enough for the both of them.

"Where to now?" Matt asked as he lit a cigarette and leaned up against the car. And for once, Mello honestly didn't know.

-End Succession-

AN: ARG!!!! This chapter was evil to me. It was very hard to write....

: (you want to know how long ago I was writing this? I just found out that I got my new job and had posted Choices chapter 19 two days before. Yeah....)